Lawmakers vote to protect incest victims

Lawmakers vote to protect incest victims

The terms “incest” and “aggravated incest” would be scrubbed from Louisiana law books under a proposal making its way through the Louisiana Senate.

Senate Bill 333, sponsored by state Sen. Ronnie Johns, R-Lake Charles, would change those terms to “crime against nature” and “aggravated crime against nature,” respectively.

Johns told the Senate Judiciary C Committee that doing away with the term “incest” in Louisiana law protects victims of the crime. When someone is charged with incest, it’s easy for people to infer who the victim is.